Touch of Pink (***1/2)

Touch of Pink, directed and written by Ian Iqbal Rashid, is the story reflecting life of Alim (Jimi Mistry), a young gay Ismaili Muslim man living in London, miles away from his mother, Nuru (Suleka Mathew) in Toronto. The reasons for this distance are quite obvious; he can’t come out of closet to his mother and relatives. Secondly, He can’t leave his love, Giles (Kristen Holden-Ried), Caucasian economist working for UNICEF. Alim has an imaginary friend, Cary Grant (Kyle MacLachlan), whose advices are very effective in letting him into troubles. All four characters are strikingly built from foot to head, especially the mother and the son’s character.

Touch of pink touches many untouched doors of society, creating an intense plot of relation of mother and her gay son. Ian Iqbal Rashid’s romantic comedy rests not just over coming out’ conflict, but also deals well with cultural clash along with adoring love story of Alim and Giles. The story had effectively portrayed the hardships of coming out of the closet, and even concluded with a positive note with the acceptance of gay son by his mother.

The screenplay has been kept simple; giving it a pleasant flow with succinct dialogues. On screen, Jimi Mistry and Suleka Mathew have done superb job. The movies didn’t receive much acclaim by critics, with only four nominations on total at various film festivals in Canada. But overall, I would say that these 92 minutes deserves one time watch.

And if you are planning to come out of closet, do watch this! May be you would like to watch it again with your mom!


(Written for Pink Pages)